


Smile.

by pinkyblues



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Multi, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 20:37:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19325650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkyblues/pseuds/pinkyblues
Summary: A minute is taken to test his smile with the mirror, making sure to angle his head slightly and move his eyes with his lips, showing enough teeth to be convincing. It is a day for smiles after all.Riku-centric, unrequited soriku where he attends Sora's wedding as his best man, set some years post Kh3.





	Smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Please note the tags there is no happy ending here. This is Riku attending Sora and Kairi’s wedding as the best man but it didn’t feel right to tag it as sokai. I haven’t written fiction in about 8 years and this is basically a vent fic so I apologise for the lack of quality. Also Repliku is here because.

Riku wakes with the dawn. He knows he has slept well, but he feels tired down to the very bone as he mechanically puts himself through his morning routine. The suit he prepared weeks ago is hanging where he left it, and he checks for creases before putting it on. He skips breakfast on the way out, unsure if his stomach could handle it with the way it’s been churning for the past week. A minute is taken to test his smile with the mirror, making sure to angle his head slightly and move his eyes with his lips, showing enough teeth to be convincing. It is a day for smiles after all.

He starts his boat and navigates it to the smaller island where the venue is set. Sora and his family are back on the main island, there were some ceremonies only the family were privy too. It gives him enough time to set up anyway. Planning had taken up most of the past months, the sleepy town of Destiny Islands unused to large events of this scale. Many of the islanders were happy to accommodate their strange requests for the celebrations, but disproportionately large orders had to be smoothed over with Sora’s smile and some quick thinking explanations from him. Most of the materials and settings still had to be brought from off-world, but the other keyblade masters were generous with their help traveling between the worlds. 

When he arrives at the island, Terra and Ventus are already a whirlwind with the set up of tables and chairs, leaving him and Aqua to focus on decorations and using magic to prepare the stage and effects. There are flowers kept under stasis spells and illusion barriers set up to hide the guests from prying eyes from the main islands. They are both exhausted by the time the venue is set up, and he leaves Aqua with an elixir and a bottle of water while he rushes off to help Little Chef and Tiana set up the catering.  


\---

He greets the other guests as they arrive, always conscious to keep the smile on his face. It helps, when Naminé and Xion arrive, and his smile softens to something more genuine. They hug him tightly, and he gives himself a moment’s reprieve when he hides his expression in their hair. Neither of them comment about how the hug is too long or how he shakes in their arms, and he silently thanks them for their silence and support. His younger self is along with them, and he is subject to a handshake and heavy meaningful look while escorting them to the rows reserved for them.

When the main event arrives Sora is exuberant, bouncing in his steps as he approaches. Already his hair is springing back from the gel liberally applied in the morning, and his shoes are lightly scuffed by the sand. Riku knows everyone in attendance would simply smile indulgently at his excitement and charm. He meets Sora’s eyes and for a moment and feels his face split in a wide genuine smile, echoing back Sora’s happiness and excitement. He stands next to Sora under the shade, quickly leaning closer to straighten the flower in his breast pocket. He can feel his hands tremble as he pulls away, and is careful to keep the smile on when he moves to his position at the side. 

When Kairi walks into view she is breath-taking, her dress a blend of colours and her hair artistically done up to frame her face. Her smile when she sees Sora is equally blinding and for a moment Riku feels his breath stutter at the gorgeous picture the two of them paint. He spends the ceremony standing at attention off to the side watching Kairi beam and Sora shake with excitement, while the guests are similarly awed and amused at the couple. When they kiss Riku and Aqua raise their keyblades in tandem, launching a modified Flare Force into the sky as the guests cheer and clap. He keeps the smile on his face as he looks upwards, keeping his eyes focused on the lights and the magic, feeling along the well-worn cracks of his heart.  


\---

He remembers the first crack when he overheard Kairi whispering to Sora about leaving with the raft on their own. When the darkness came it burrowed into the crack, tearing at it until he screamed. Until all he could think of was ripping the pain out, of running and leaving before they could leave him behind. He wanted to hate her then, but he never could. Children that age were cruel without meaning to or knowing why. He certainly couldn’t fault her after what he himself did, ripping Sora’s keyblade and friends away and leaving him in the dirt. 

Almost 3 years after they first left the islands, he remembers Sora and Kairi returning. It had almost been a year since Sora left them at the keyblade graveyard after the last battle with Xehanort. He had been helping Aqua at the Land of Departure when Ventus landed heavily, not even stopping to remove his armour before delivering the news. He remembers nothing but a flurry of activity and running, launching his keyblade and speeding through the pathways to Radiant Garden. He had sprinted through the castle and found them both resting under Ansem’s watchful eye. Both were worryingly thin and bruised, but whole and alive. He remembers seeing Sora smile, almost blinding after months of its absence, and he was brought to his knees at his bedside. 

All three of them return to Destiny Island together and it is easier to assuage their parents’ fears when they have each other to corroborate and support their stories. They stay on the islands, but his responsibilities as a keyblade master call him off world constantly, and the time spent away grows longer each trip. It is both easier and harder being away and occupied from his thoughts. He misses their casual touches and basking in Sora’s smile. His duties are lonely, but it is easy to shoulder the burden of helping to fix worlds after the mistakes he made almost tearing them apart. 

He remembers returning from one of those trips to find Sora running up to him, smile blindingly bright. He catches them both, stumbling from the momentum and when Sora raises his right hand next to his blindingly bright smile he feels his heart crack in the same way it did all those years ago. He brushes off his moment of pause as surprise and easily agrees to be the best man, and his smile then still held some genuine happiness to it, because as Sora was happy then nothing else mattered.  


\---

Mid-way through the celebrations he climbs to the small podium, angled so that he can see most of the large crowd. It is nothing more than re-purposed desk, covered with a simple tablecloth and set with magic that carried sound further. While Mickey may have been Yen Sid’s apprentice, Aqua was a true master of both the keyblade and magic, and Riku makes a note to thank her for her unique help again. He grounds himself with a breath, before flashing the smile he practised this morning, making sure it reaches his eyes enough to be convincing. He has prepared a script for this, and rehearsed enough with Namine and his other self to ensure it was flawless. 

He proposes toasts, the crowd cheering and raising their drinks as one. Everyone here is brimming with excitement and genuine happiness for the couple, and Riku feels like a shade standing at the podium and introducing himself as Sora’s best man. He stands and talks about the light, of how it was clear from the start that two such blindingly bright souls would be drawn to each other, about the adversity and bravery of their adventures. He talks about how Sora’s infatuation had been obvious from the start, and shares embarrassing anecdotes of how he helped his best friend pick out date activities. He is almost finished when he looks over to the couple, where Sora is bright red and laughing. Their eyes briefly meet, and Sora has another smile on his lips, reserved only for the two of them, before turning to laugh at something Kairi said. Riku watches as how his smile doubles when Sora faces his bride, and feels the crack along his heart widen. He feels tears start but makes no move to wipe them, only widening his smile and selling them as tears of joy. 

He cried similarly during his practise speech with Namine and his other self. She had made no move to wipe them either. His replica had pulled him aside after, and he recalls the anger and confusion from his younger self asking why he never spoke to Sora. He smiled then, knowing he could never find the words to explain how little his tears meant in the face of Sora’s happiness. All he could do after was clear his throat and practise smiling in the mirror until it was convincing enough through the tears. He spent that night lying in bed feeling along the cracks of his heart, the jagged edges of seeing Sora’s smile next to an equally blinding ring.  


\---

After the celebrations he helps to see the guests out, making sure those travelling inebriated have someone sensible with them to bring them home to the right worlds. He sends the newlywed couple away with a forced wink, promising to handle the clean-up. Sora throws himself in a hug as thanks, babbling how grateful he was to have Riku as a friend. He pulls the smaller boy close, painfully aware how such moments would be fewer from now on, clutching too tightly for a moment before making himself loosen his grip. Plasters another smile on his face as they part, hoping Sora would mistake the look in his eyes as exhaustion. The two row back to the main island in a boat overflowing with flowers, and he looks too long at Sora’s back, growing smaller with distance.

Terra and Aqua have stayed behind to help with the clean-up, but he is exhausted and too tired to do anything beyond anything immediately necessary. He thanks Tiana and Little Chef profusely for the food, and similarly grateful with his praise with Aqua and her creative use of magic while she escorts the cooks home. He and Terra dismantle what they can, but there is little that can be done after the sun sets. He makes mental notes of what to do the next day as he waves goodbye to Terra and boards his boat to sail back to the main island.

It is only when he reaches home does he let his smile drop. His jaw hurts along with heart, but there is little he can do about either. He mechanically showers and prepares for bed the same way he went through his morning routine. He is exhausted but sleep evades him, his mind turning over their shared history, of the times where he held back, of maybes and what ifs. The pillow is wet as he finally succumbs to sleep, but he does not know if it was from his hair or tears.

**Author's Note:**

> Who needs therapy when you can project your issues onto fictional characters and hope for emotional catharsis. Come yell at me on twitter about happier AUs (unless its hadestown, cause that one is sad) [ @pinkybnu ](https://twitter.com/pinkybnu) . If you relate to any of this I am so sorry.


End file.
